In an exclusive interview with HM, Lee Richards, the newly appointed CEO of Seibu Prince Hotels and Resorts’ International Division, discusses the company’s ambitious global growth strategy.
Tell me about your hospitality career and how that all began.
Well, funnily enough, I came into the hospitality industry by accident. I was a professional footballer for Swansea City when I was growing up. At the age of 19, I had an accident and injured my leg, so I had to retire early. That’s where my discipline comes in, I suppose, and I’ve really followed it through into my latter career.
I started off with Trusthouse Forte, which was then the number one hotel company in the world, equivalent to perhaps Marriott or Accor these days. After the first Gulf War, I decided to move to the luxury end of the market. I had a wonderful mentor who developed me into middle management, and I quickly rose the ranks in operations of several hotels in London.
About the age of 27 I secured my first general management position for Le Meridien Hotels in the UK and held various general management positions with Melia, IHG and spent 10 years with Millennium Hotels and Resorts – mainly in the UK, before moving to Singapore as SVP of Operations and Development. In 2018, I joined Swiss-Belhotel International, where I held global senior leadership positions, and now I’ve taken the leap to Seibu Prince Hotels and Resorts.
The hotel industry can provide really exciting career progression, which you have seen, and at that CEO level, you really need to have that variety of experiences across so many areas.
I’ve been quite fortunate in my career that I’ve had a diverse range of positions, from operations, commercial, then corporate and head office level. I’ve taken many opportunities and now I’m instilling that into the company where we can move forward in a systematic approach with a strategic outlay and view of where we would like to be – that is 250 hotels by 2035. It’s a big ask in 10 years, but I believe with the right team, the right culture, the right strategic approach, we will achieve it. I’ve outlined a 50:50 approach – 50% acquisition, 50% of the growth will come through HMA, franchise or lease. We need to be mindful that to grow the number of hotels we require, we have to be flexible.
What is it about this company that appealed to you?
The DNA of the company will always be that Japanese hospitality, which is second to none – service from the heart. I like that philosophy, and I believe it will put us in a good position going forward. For me, it’s about bringing what’s in Japan, which has been extremely successful, to the international stage. It’s not very often that you have a company wishing to grow so many hotels, and 75% of that growth will be outside of Japan. We’re already starting that journey. Every day is an exciting challenge.
Tell us a bit more about that international growth strategy and key locations of interest.
The new head offices for the international division will be in Sydney and Bangkok. The growth will come from Southeast Asia to the west of the world, eventually ending up in America, where we already have three hotels in Hawaii and one in New York. So there is going to be four focus regions: Southeast Asia; Middle East and Europe; American region; and Asia Pacific, which will strengthen the growth of the company going forward.
The focus will be on key capital cities, predominantly in Asia to start with. We’re currently looking at Bangkok, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia. I’m looking at resorts. Maldives is on the radar. We’ve got regional offices in Dubai, so it will be Abu Dhabi, Saudi Dubai, possibly Bahrain; Europe – Paris, in particular, Germany, Italy and Spain and London; and then continue our expansion into the West. We already have a hotel in New York, so we will be looking at California, Los Angeles.
How is Japan’s outbound tourism market influencing your growth strategy?
A lot of Japanese travellers, probably 60%, are staying within Asia – Thailand and Singapore are very popular at the moment. Asia is our first phase of expansion. They are also travelling to the US, Australia and New Zealand. The Dollar to the Yen plays a big part in that. There is a lot of interest in Japan as a holiday destination at the moment, and now we can offer that Japanese hospitality experience anywhere in the world.
What segments will you be focused on?
We’re creating a number of new brands as we speak. One is at the ultra luxury level, and will complement our existing brands in the luxury segment – The Prince Akatoki, The Prince, The Grand Prince – and define who we’re going to be in the next 10 years.
There will be about a 70:30 mix, with 70% of the portfolio in the luxury, ultra luxury end and 30% will be midscale. We’re very successful with Park Regis by Prince – we’ve just rebranded our hotel in Singapore last year and we’ve got another hotel opening in Jakarta in early 2025 and more in the pipeline.
I am also in discussions with some owners about these new brands and improving their assets. At the end of the day, we need to deliver the return on investment in their revenue and gross operating profit.
This interview was first published in the February edition of HM Magazine. View the full issue here.